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An Experimental Study of the Role of Spiders as Predators in a Forest Litter Community. Part 1
Author(s) -
Clarke Raymond D.,
Grant P. R.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1934499
Subject(s) - predation , ecology , spider , biology , plant litter , predator , centipede , litter , ecological succession , ecosystem
An experiment was designed to investigate the influence of spiders, as predator, upon other organisms in a maple forest litter community. A large number of spiders was removed from an enclosed (experimental) area; spiders were allowed to remain in 1 enclosed and 2 open areas (controls). Following spider removal, centipedes and collembola, known prey organisms of spiders, were at consistently higher densities in the experimental area than in the 3 controls during a 10 week period. Millipedes, not taken by spiders, were not consistently higher in the experimental area. These data indicate that predation by spiders is an important subtractive process acting on populations of centipedes and collembola.